Pages

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

New York 2013 Part II

On Wednesday, I woke up and went for a run and checked out the High Line park. Very cool! I didn't rent a bike, because I had no set plans and wanted to save money. I regretted it.

Right after breakfast, I walked up to see my grandma and my Uncle Ed, who was visiting. After our stay, I grabbed a quick bite for lunch and then started walking south down 3rd Avenue. After about 20 or so blocks, I was really hot and sweaty and was getting a headache from the sun. Fortunately, I found myself right in front of the Barnes & Noble on 54th street. I always pay this store a visit when I'm in the city (they have washrooms you can use without having to buy something first). I popped in for a pee and sat down to rest with some reading material. After 45 minutes I purchased a magazine and a novel and decided I was going to either do a yoga class or see a movie, whichever I found first. I checked out 4 or 5 gyms and yoga studios but since it was 3pm, there weren't any classes happening for another hour or two, and/or the drop-in class fee was ridiculous ($35 at the Manhattan Athletic Club!!). I didn't find a theatre until I got back to Times Square, but then I got lucky. I walked in just in time to catch Pain and Gain that was starting in 5 minutes.

I thought this was an excellent film: great acting and quite funny. But it was also very violent and disturbing, so much so that I had to hide my eyes on several occasions.

While watching the movie, I sampled some awesome cookies we had picked up at Schmackary's Cookies. They were all good, but surprisingly, the Chocolate Diablo (chocolate, chocolate chunk with cayenne) was my favorite. I enjoyed the gluten-free Green Tea and Sweet Corn flavours, but they tasted mostly like white chocolate to me and I couldn't detect either the green tea or corn flavour in either. What I love about this place is it uses white whole wheat flour in its regular cookies and corn, sorghum flours instead of white rice flours for it's gluten-free products.

That was a good enough reason for me to turn a blind eye to all the sugar and butter in them...

Adam and I decided to go out for a more expensive 'treat' meal that evening, but it was a major let down. I adore Afghan food and we loved a take-out meal we got from Afghan Kebob House a few years ago. This time, we found the portions skimpy and the quality meh, especially given the price. I was really disappointed because I ordered lamb, something I only do once or twice a year, so when I have it, I want it to be fantastic. Unfortunately, later on I saw that there were 2 or 3 other Afghan restaurants we could have tried. Oh well, next time.